THE TAMARISK. 



185 



mann of the Tamarisk was then known by the 

 same name that it now is. On the other hand, 

 it is highly probable, that the Arabs called the 

 substance which they collected from the Tamarisk 

 mann^ from its bearing a resemblance in some 

 respects to the manna of the Israelites. It is 

 hard to say which of these opinions carries the 

 greater weight ; the supposition is quite natural, 

 that the Israelites, amazed and perplexed at the 

 suddenness of the miracle wrought on their be- 

 half, called their new food by the name of the 

 substance which it most resembled, and it is as 

 natural that the Arabs would have given the 

 name of manna to a white, sweet substance which 

 they found on the ground before sunrise, al- 

 though produced for a few weeks only in every 

 year, and unaccompanied by the signs of a mira- 

 culous origin which characterized the food with 

 which the Israelites were fed for forty years in 

 the wilderness. But if, as Josephus tells us, the 

 word manna means, "what is this ?" and indicates 

 ignorance of its nature and origin, there can be 

 no doubt that the second opinion is the correct 

 one. In no case is there any real connection 

 between the two substances. 



The manna of commerce, as has been stated 

 before (vol. i. p. 146), is the produce of a Euro- 

 pean tree, Ornus Europcea. 



Among the ruins of Babylon, on a spot which 

 is supposed to be the site of the Hanging Gar- 

 dens of Nebuchadnezzar, stands the famous soli- 

 tary tree called by the Arabs, Atheleh ; it bears 

 every mark of antiquity in appearance, situation, 

 and tradition. Its trunk was originally enormous, 

 but, worn away by the lapse of ages, it is now 



